


gotta be butterflies somewhere

by foofygoldfish



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: F/F, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24265090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foofygoldfish/pseuds/foofygoldfish
Summary: Everyone has a countdown, everyone has a soulmate. Alice knows this. But why did hers have to be a prominent figure in the cult that has taken over her hometown?
Relationships: Female Deputy | Judge/Faith Seed
Comments: 5
Kudos: 50





	gotta be butterflies somewhere

**Author's Note:**

> i apologize if some transitions seem a little abrupt - i wanted to put more in here, but i just couldn't figure out how to make it happen!

Two days, fourteen hours, ten minutes --

That’s how long it’d be until she met her soulmate. 

Everyone had the countdown on her wrist: some people had impossibly long timelines, some had short, some decided to wait to date until they met _the one_ \- some, like her brother, had said fuck it, I’m not waiting for that. She was somewhere in the middle - she’d dated, of course she had, but overall? Most of her relationships had been more sex than love. Aurelia? That’d been close to love - they both knew they weren’t each other’s soulmates, but they were _happy_ \- well, until Alice found Aurelia cheating on her.

She’d been watching her countdown on and off her entire drive back to Montana. Caleb teased her, saying she’d probably end up with some backwoods hick or something.

Statistically speaking? He was probably right. Woo.

Part of her wishes it had run out when she was back in LA - but then she wouldn’t have been able to move when shit went south, when her friends almost got her arrested, when Jane called saying she needed help with the shop and was moving in with her boyfriend, would she be interested in coming back to Fall’s End, or should she hire someone?

From the corner of her eye, she saw her brother fiddling with the radio controls, cursing when the radio came back with static.

“Give it a few minutes.” She sighed, swatting his hand away from the dial. “Jane said there’s still a few stations operating outta the valley. Probably can’t pick ‘em up till we get through the tunnel.”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “She said there’s _one_. That’s it.”

“So you expect there to be something out here?”

Silence.

“We can put on my podcasts again, you kn--”

“God, no. Too much murder.” He glanced down at the map on his phone, “ There’s only like, twenty minutes till we’re there, I can deal.”

Alice snorted when his hand drifted towards the dial again. “You sure?”

* * *

Mary May is the one who told her about the Rye’s party - she vaguely remembered Nick’s parents having them, back when she was a little kid, but she didn’t think that he would keep them up after all these years.

Also, she’d been in town literally two days. And Jane had _already_ made her go to the revival the day before, despite knowing her and Caleb had driven over a _thousand_ miles. She was fuckin’ _tired_. But this party? Free food, and a hell of a lot more fun than a culty revival meeting.

The party was… Lively. Very uniquely Fall’s End, but at the same time, _familiar_. Mary May waved at her from the food table, before Drew pulled her attention back, and Nick brightened when he saw her.

Before she could head over and say hello, Jane appeared, grabbing her arm and dragging her over to -- ugh. The Seed siblings. She recognized the brothers - Jane had introduced her to John and Joseph the previous day, and she’d pointed out Jacob, but the woman -- she was new.

“Jacob, Faith! I was hoping you’d be here. I missed you at the revival yesterday.”

The tall Seed shrugged, mumbling something. 

Alice sighed, taking Faith’s outstretched hand, and nodding at Jacob.. “I’m Alice. Jane’s least favorite sibling.”

The blonde laughed - a soft, musical sound. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“She uh, hasn’t told me much about… Well, anything that’s happened since I left. How long have you guys been here?”

“My brothers moved to Hope County about ten years ago - I didn’t officially move her until… Oh, eight years ago now? I had family here, though, so I was familiar with the area. The old conservatory was my aunt and uncle’s.”

Huh. No wonder she looked familiar. “Oh, the Jessops?”

Faith nodded.

“I remember their place - my mom used to take us all over there to get plants in the spring. She uh, liked --” No, Alice, you can’t tell someone that your mom preferred other nurseries -- “She liked the mums they grew.” Not a lie. Technically. Faith didn’t notice the lie - or at least she didn’t let on that she did, who knew.

“Hey, y’all don’t mind if I borrow Alice?” Nick! She’d never been more thankful to see him in her _life_.

Faith blinked. “Oh! Of course not. Alice, I look forward to talking to you more later.”

Alice smiled at her, then allowed Nick to lead her away. “Nick Rye, you just saved my life. I fuckin’ hate small ta-- Kim! Hey!”

The two hugged, then Kim gave her a Look. “You gotta be careful with them, Alice.”

She snorted. “I know their reputation. Janie took me to their stupid meeting yesterday - it was so creepy.”

“Hey, come on - you need to meet everyone.”

“Can… I get food?” She sighed when Kim pulled her towards a group of people, looking longingly at the mac n cheese at the big table. “Okay.”

* * *

She had a feeling that breakfast (well, lunch, really - but night shift, y’know?) at the Spread Eagle was going to become a routine - even after she had a chance to go to whatever big supermarket was in Butte so she could stock up on food, it was still just easier to pop over to the Fairgrave’s or the little diner across the way.

Nick arrived about halfway through her meal - he was talking to Gary about a delivery or another party at his place or _something_ \- she didn’t really know, she just knew that this hamburger? Fuckin’ _delicious_.

Nick was about to leave - she thought - when he gave her a strange look.

Alice paused, looking at Nick. “...You okay?”

“Lemme see your hand.”

She raised her eyebrows, “Can it wait till I’m done eating?”

“Alice.”

She sighed, holding her arm out. 

“Other arm.”

She raised it, starting when he grabbed it and pulled her sleeve up. “What are you --”

“Fuckin’ hell, Alice, when did you get to zero? You weren’t yesterday, right?”

She froze.

When _did_ she?

She’d lost track of it - with the hubbub of the party, she hadn’t thought to check it, even though she _knew_ it was going to run out then.

“Who is it?”

Alice shook her head, thinking of the people at the party. “I… Don’t know.”

Well.

As her brother would say: _fuck_. 

* * *

It didn’t take long for her new routine to form - wake up around one, brunch at Mary May’s, come home and feed the cats, then swing by Lorna’s before work for some coffee for her and whoever else was on duty.

Every day the same - well, it’d been three days, but still they were all the same - and every day for the foreseeable future? Probably going to be that way too.

The monotony of Hope County after the chaos of Los Angeles was… Almost nice?

“Excuse me, can I ask a favor?” A soft voice came from behind her. 

Alice turned towards the voice, smiling when she saw the youngest Seed. “What’s goin’ on?”

Faith returned the smile. “I think I have a hole in my pocket - I thought I had enough to cover this, but --” She raised her hand, showing Alice the chocolate bar. “Well, I have 50 cents…”

“Oh. Yeah, throw it in with my stuff.” She shook her head when Faith tried to hand her the change. “It’s fine, it’s not much.”

She didn’t think much of the interaction - the people here, cultists aside, were friendly enough, and at least in her experience at the Fairgrave’s bar, always willing to return a favor. 

It hit her later, in the middle of her shift the next night, after sending Joey out to check on a disturbance in the Henbane.

The timing.

The laughter.

The butterflies in her stomach when she saw --

 _Fuck_.

 _Fuck fuck fuckity fuck_.

It was _her_.

Her soulmate was not only _in_ a cult, but the _co-leader_ of a cult. Nice enough, yes, but _cult_.

And her sister’s asshole boyfriend’s adopted sister.

_Fuck._

* * *

Did she say boyfriend? 

She meant _fiance_.

John proposed to Jane, and the pair weren’t taking their time planning the wedding. Three months after Alice arrived, two and a half after the proposal, Alice found herself standing at the gates leading to Joseph’s compound, trying to convince herself to walk down the path, to enter the church, to face the brothers, her sister, her --

She couldn’t do it.

Jane wouldn’t notice her missing, would she? As long as she made it to the reception at the Ranch… Yeah, that’d be fine. Probably.

“Would you like some company?”

Alice nearly jumped out of her skin, quickly turning to face the voice.

“The ceremony will be starting soon --” Faith _fucking_ Seed --

“I actually, uh… Just got hit with a headache. I think I’m gonna head back to town, rest up before the party starts.” That sounded good? Right?

The other woman raised her eyebrow.

“Yeah, I have some medicine back at the shop. Shouldn’t take long to kick in.”

Faith has a _perfect_ neutral face, fuck. “Would you mind if I walked to your car with you, then?”

Uh.

Nope, no excuse to get her out of that. Fuck.

They made idle chatter for the short walk back to the truck - Faith talking about details of the wedding, and how she was so excited to see the ceremony and… Other things. She wasn’t sure - being this _close_ , after denying the connection for _so long_ \- it was distracting.

“The blue one is yours, right?”

“Hm?” She paused, glancing at the truck Faith motioned to. “Oh, yeah. Uhm. I’ll see you at the party?’

Faith smiled. “I’ll be looking for you! Feel better!”

UUUUUugh.

The drive back to town was entirely too short.

The wedding would take at _least_ an hour, she knew that - the invitation said to be at Seed Ranch at 5, and it was barely 3, so… Spread Eagle time.

“Mary May, I will _pay_ you to kill me right now so I don’t have to go to the stupid reception.”

Her friend laughed. “How’d you get out of the ceremony?”

“I have a _headache_ . Supposedly. That’s what I told Faith, at least.” She sat at her usual spot at the bar, groaning. “God, this is going to be a long day. Are you _sure_ you don’t wanna crash it and be my plus one?”

“You saw her?” 

“You didn’t --”

“Did you talk to her about… _”_

“No, I did not, and I _will not_.”

“I’m not --”

“May, _please_.”

Mary May sighed. “‘M closing tonight, I can’t leave. Drew wanted to go do… Something, he wouldn’t tell me, and mom and dad are up at 8-bit helping the Crawfords all night.”

“Oh.”

“Need me to call you with an emergency?”

“Nah, I think Jane’s gonna take my phone away. She told me I wasn’t allowed to watch cat videos.” 

Her friend snorted and passed her a glass. “You’ll need this. Case can drive you over.”

“Mary May Fairgrave, you are a _saint_.”

* * *

One hour and several drinks later, Alice was once again standing at a gate, trying to convince herself to join the festivities.

She _had_ to go in - at least for long enough for Jane to take “oh of _course_ I didn’t completely ignore your existence for the last decade, you’re my sister, I love you!” pictures, maybe long enough to get some of that fancy-ass cake she knew John would have insisted on ordering. 

God, she wished Mary May could be there with her. It’d be so much easier to deal with if her best friend was by her side, cracking jokes about John and his fancy lawyer friends who are _obviously_ fish out of water in their little corner of rural Montana.

But nope - she has to play nice, play the perfect little sister… She’s not bitter at all.

Or drunk.

Definitely not drunk, nope, not at all…

Faith was waiting for her halfway down the runway and she _swore_.

Faith was … Amused? By that. 

“I was hoping you’d show up.”

“Jane would kill me if I didn’t. Gotta… I dunno, I think pictures are done with, so... Gotta keep up appearances, or whatever.” She started to walk past the taller woman, hoping she’d stay there, not follow her, not make her deal with the whole _thing_ between them.

She didn’t. Of course. Faith pushed herself off the fence, falling into step with Alice . “You don’t like her.”

“Is it that obvious?” Alice scoffed, then sighed, kicking a rock on the ground. “There’s a lotta shit that happened between us. I’ve been trying to keep things neutral with her, but she keeps mentioning our mom like nothing fuckin’ _happened_ , and… There’s just a lot.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Honestly? Not really.”

“Okay.” Faith smiled softly at her, moving to take Alice’s hand, before having second thoughts. “Can I walk with you?”

* * *

Alice gave the other woman a long stare. “How long have you known?”

“What?”

“You know what I’m talking about, Faith.”

“Oh.” Faith took a deep breath and set down her drink. “Since the barbeque. That first weekend you were here.”

“That long?”

“When did you?”

“Faith --” She sighed. “Few days after that. You didn’t have money or something. At Lorna’s. It clicked after -- wait, did you -- the candy, did you actually not have money?”

Faith blinked. “Oh. I -- No, I.. I didn’t. Not that time.”

“That time?”

She blushed. “Mr Boshaw - I may, uh, have convinced him to buy me chocolate before.”

Alice raised her eyebrow. “What is it with you and chocolate bars?”

“Joseph doesn’t approve of my sweet tooth.”

“He doesn’t -- really?” She laughed. “Fuck, come to my house, I’ve got the good shit. My brother brought me some kinder eggs”

Faith’s face brightened. “Kinder eggs?”

“Fuck yeah.” She nodded in the direction of town. “As a thank you for saving me from those fuckin’ pictures.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“I was going to ask for a dance.”

The thought of dancing was almost enough to make her puke - the drinks from earlier plus the ones she’d had since arriving at the reception, mixed with the lack of food.. “How about food?”

“I can do that.”

* * *

The rest of the reception passed in a blur. Before she knew it, she had texted Casey for a ride home, and Faith was walking with her back out to the pickup point.

“So.”

“So.”

“Next… Friday? At the 8-Bit?” Alice fiddled with her phone, double-checking her work schedule. “Yeah. Friday.”

Faith smiled - a brilliant, beautiful, _sincere_ smile, the first she’d seen all night - and took Alice’s hand. “That sounds perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> oh hey, i'm alive! i'm still working on the next chapter of otb, but i started this on new years eve and needed to finish it first so it wasn't hanging over me anymore haha.  
> also, uh - if it wasn't obvious, i don't really read soulmate aus much. i apologize for any weirdness!


End file.
